Cloud 9 ELEAGUE Boston Journey

8. March 2018

Cloud 9 is the shining winner of the Eleague Major in Boston. The Americans managed to beat the European team of FaZe Clan, becoming the first North American team to win a major title in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

A rocky path

The path to the final was similar for both teams: Cloud9 and FaZe Clan had to play after disappointing results at the last championship tournament of the summer of 2017 through the qualifying round and group stage before they met at the end of the knockout round in the final game. After three weeks, both teams had left 22 teams behind and showed why they did not have to leave the field earlier this time with incredible performances. The individual stories of both teams could not be more different. FaZe clan is the undisputed super team from Europe, with a lot of money. They have signed five of the best EU players under contract. The goal for FaZe was especially clear after an extremely successful 2017: The championship title must be there, everything else is not good enough.

For Cloud9, it was more about demons of the past: Never has an American team won a CS:GO title, the star player Tyler »Skadoodle« Latham also held the international record for the most frequent departure in the group stage. Eight times in a row, he was able to qualify with teams for championship tournaments, but without ever reaching the playoffs.The Americans played New Challengers Stage in style with three wins in a row then and made it to knockout round where they first defeated G2 eSports 2-0. Cloud9 beat SK Gaming in the second semifinal of ELEAGUE Major 2018 with a score of 2-1. In the final match of the major, the team was up against FaZe Clan, who previously knocked out Natus Vincere. Team Tariq ” tarik ” Celica defeated the Brazilian team at Mirage with a score of 16-3, after which SK Gaming won on Cobblestone: 8-16. On Inferno, Cloud9 closed the series in their favor – 16-9. In the first semi-final, FaZe Clan twice defeated Natus Vincere: on Inferno with a score of 16-9 and on Mirage – 16-7.

The Grand Finals

Moving to the big finals, which have already experienced a strong shock, Cloud9’s journey was not easy, of course, but the side was not easy to defeat. The final was a great thrill as their opponent FaZe was hard to beat. Three of the maps were played with excitement, demonstrating the strength of the teams and their strong desire to win.

First game – Mirage14-16 (6-9)

For the third time, Cloud 9 was able to select Mirage in the playoffs. At first, it seemed that Cloud 9 on Mirage was unbeatable. A lightning start was made by Tarik “tarik” Celik and Co. Hin. At halftime, the FaZe clan was already with three rounds behind even after they had the advantage to start on the CT side. But in the second half, the powerhouse FaZe seemed to get off to a better start. Round by round was won by Faze and finally Cloud 9 for the first time on their own map, Mirage had the disadvantage. Because the map was lost with 14-16, so it was almost impossible to claim the victory on Overpass, the best map of Faze in the competition.

Second game – Overpass16-10 (12-3)

With a score 0-1 for Faze in the series, Overpass was the next battleground. The map is considered one of the strongest maps for the FaZe clan. But as already against G2 Esports and SK Gaming, the Americans proved their full quality. Started on the CT side, the North American outsider FaZe managed to show off. After a great 12-3 sore at halftime, Cloud 9 managed to make a strong comeback. The map went with 16-10 to the local hero.

Third game – Inferno22-19 (7-8)

The last map of the Eleague Major was Inferno. Both teams were characterized by the efforts of the two preceding maps. Immediately in the first rounds of the game, it became obvious that this game is reminiscent of a boxing match. It was a high-level exchange. Towards the end FaZe seemed to be the winner of the map, as well as the competition. At the score of 15-11, the Europeans had every chance to earn the victory, but they did not succeed. Cloud 9 again made a comeback by winning four consecutive rounds. In the following Overtime, time turned the tide: Cloud9 won three rounds in a row and thus held the match point, but could not end the game and lost the next three rounds.

With 18-18 score, the second stoppage time was necessary. Once again it was GuardiaN who kept his team against the US boys in the race. Once again, both teams battled for the win, and eventually Cloud9 crushed their European opponents by 22-19. Significantly, the final shot came from Skadoodle’s sniper rifle and hit the last remaining FaZe player: his opponent GuardiaN. Skadoodle was not only able to break the curse of the group stage, he shot his team for the championship title. He was the MVP for the final game, while Tarik was the player of the tournament.

The champions – Cloud 9

On the way to victory, Cloud9 had everything but easy: Not only was the comeback in the group stage a special achievement. In the playoffs, the Americans defeated the No. 2 in the final (FaZe), the number 1 in the world ranking in the semi-finals (SK Gaming) and the number 4 in the world rankings in the quarterfinals (G2 Esports). Absolutely understandable that tears flowed in the end. The ELEAGUE Major 2018 playoffs took place from 26 to 28 January in Boston. The winner, C9 received $ 500 thousand.

All the participants in the playoffs received the status of “legends” and slots in the main stage of the next major from Valve. It is rumored that it will be held by FACEIT in September in London. Everything these teams learned to become one of the best in CS:GO is included in our app csgoskills. Indeed, it takes some time to become this good but it is surely a good step in the right direction. Are you looking for cool csgo merchandise? Then check out csgotradezone.com

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